Misguided anger shows rare weakness in title challenger

Oscar Piastri's 10-second penalty cost him a British Grand Prix victory, writes Kieran Jackson, but the call was fair

- Kieran Jackson

It is seldom we see Oscar Piastri lose his composed, cool-as-a-cucumber persona. What has made the Australian such an impressive championship contender this season at McLaren has been his equanimity and poise in the face of on-track incidents and off-track gossip. Wise beyond his years in just his third season in Formula One, the 24-year-old rarely misses the bigger picture.

Yet Silverstone on Sunday was an anomaly. Piastri received a 10-second time penalty midway through a riveting British Grand Prix, costing him victory to teammate and championship rival Lando Norris. Piastri did the dutiful thing, congratulating his teammate afterwards, but was seething in conversation with Jenson Button below the podium.

“I’m not going to say much, I’ll get myself in trouble,” he quickly said. “Apparently, you can’t brake behind the safety car any more.”

In the customary post-race press conference for the top three finishers, Piastri was a smidge more measured. However, his perplexion was still blatant.

“I don’t really care at the moment,” he said when asked whether he would visit the stewards’ room for clarification.